Members of Eastside High School's FBLA team recently competed at the FBLA State Leadership Conference in Atlanta and will compete at the national competition in Anaheim, Cali. Team members Cason Cantrell, Alana Freeman and Conner Haler all won first place in their competitions, and Dustin Gentis took home second place in his event. All first and second place winners are eligible for the national competition.

COVINGTON -- Members of Eastside High School's FBLA team won big at the recent FBLA State Leadership Conference in Atlanta and are now headed to the national competition in Anaheim, Cali., this summer.

Team members Cason Cantrell, Alana Freeman and Conner Haler all won first place in their competitions, and Dustin Gentis took home second place in his event.

All first- and second-place winners are eligible for the national competition.

Cantrell had the highest score in the state on the Online Banking and Financial Systems test. According to Eastside FBLA Advisor Marilou Grimes, this qualifies him as a member of the Georgia Super Team for nationals.

"Cason's event will be an online test and a case study pertaining to current banking and financial issues," Grimes said. "He will present his solution to the case study in front of a panel of judges."

Freeman and Haler teamed up to win first place in the Digital Video Production competition. Haler also won first place in the state and second place in the nation in the same category last school year.

The duo created a video promoting FBLA-PBL Week. The video was judged, and Freeman and Haler also had to then explain how they created, produced and edited the video in front of the judging panel. They will have an opportunity to review the judges' feedback and tweak their video if necessary then repeat the process at nationals.

Gentis won second place in the Digital Design and Promotion competition. Gentis had teamed with Haler last year to win first place in the Digital Video Production contest.

According to Grimes, "Dustin had to be an 'ad agency' that created a marketing campaign for a fictitious extreme adventure company giving tours in the southwest. He had to create the company logo, billboard, letterhead, coupon, newspaper ad, etc. and then present his ideas to a panel of judges." He will follow the same process in Anaheim.

In addition to the awards for competitive events, Freeman was recognized for her service as Region 14 president this year, and Dustin Gentis was named the Region 14 Who's Who in FBLA. Grimes was named the Region 14 Adviser of the Year.

Grimes said Eastside student Ryan Womack completed the Business Level for the Business Achievement awards and received a certificate for this accomplishment.

"I am so proud of the accomplishments of the students," said Jeff Cher, principal of Eastside High School. "For the second year in a row, our FBLA students will represent Newton County and the state of Georgia at the national competition. They are outstanding students and I am gratified to see their hard work and expertise recognized."